Elegant and stylish model, Britney Smith has won the title of Miss Point Fortin 2013.

The well-rounded Britney comes from a religious background and she is now a second year student of UWI where she is doing undergraduate studies in French and Spanish.

“I am proud of my community of St Mary’s, South Oropouche.

The people here live busy lives, working hard and are also into sports,” she said.

Britney says she has long admired former Miss Universe, Wendy Fitzwilliam and she has hopes to follow her footsteps by becoming a recognised model with a solid educational background. This southern beauty also admires the models associated with the House of Jacqui who she says are professionals at showcasing fashion, styles and designs out of this country and of Caribbean artistes. At the international level she has great respect for TV host and model Tyra Banks.

“I commend her for being the impetus for change in the industry and for maintaining her self worth as a woman,” she said.

Speaking about the borough she says, Point Fortin has experienced great progress in many domains including culture, sports and education and more.

She singled out the area of culture for special mention, noting that products of the small borough include reigning Soca Monarch and Road March King Super Blue, iconic calypsonian, the Mighty Duke (the late Kelvin Pope), and soca stars Iwer George and Fay Ann Lyons.

A past student of Holy Faith Convent, Britney is the last of seven children. She praised her parents, Irving Smith and Ingrid Sherry for the tremendous support through the years in all her endeavours in life.

About her achievement at the queen show she said, “I would not describe this achievement as difficult, having entered previous beauty pageants. However, with each queen show, a new lesson is learnt and for this, I am grateful.”

Britney said she believes perseverance is the key to success and describes herself as a self-driven individual who aims to capture her goals with hard work and determination.

“This queen show in particular has widened my horizon, as I was able to acquire knowledge of Point Fortin and all that has been happening there for the past 100 years,” she said.

While first giving thanks to God for guiding her through the pageant, she also thanked her cousin, Daronte, who is her designer.

While she admitted that sometimes pageants can have a “certain stigma,” she said she would encourage other young women to participate in the Miss Point Fortin pageant to “use this platform as a means of expressing themselves positively and gaining that confidence that is a prerequisite in removing any obstacle life throws at them.” Britney wants to represent TT at international beauty shows and has begun training toward this goal.